to learn a story
by Slytherin Buttercat
Summary: a collection about the professors. 1. Charity is fiery. 2. Minerva is strong.
1. save me from the nothing I've become

**Golden Snitch, Beauxbatons, Barbegazi,** **Teacher Appreciation Day, Task Two: Charity Burbage**

 **/**

 **365 Prompts: Dialogue: "I missed you"**

 **Insane House Challenge: dialogue: "no, you promised you wouldn't leave me"**

 **pop music chart day: (song) Bring Me To Life by Evanescence**

 **Word Count: 532**

* * *

 **save me from the nothing I've become**

* * *

 _She is fiery._

Passion burns through her veins. It's passion that stings but it's so good to have. She is in love. It makes her head spin and her heart whirl, and she is so in love.

She is a Pureblood in love with a Muggle, and it should be so, so wrong: but it's so, so right. How could love be anything else?

* * *

 _She is fiery._

Love pumps her heart as she stares down at the small bundle in her arms. The adoption papers have finally gone through and he is here. Her little angel. Her saviour. Their baby.

She will be a good mother. The best mother. Her son will know nothing but love, nothing but care, nothing but the best.

Her son will be loved. Nothing could be better.

* * *

 _She is fiery._

No, wait, she is on fire. The flames are flicking up her arms and surrounding her body and it hurts so much. But she is outside, now, away from the fire, away from the pain, only they're not with her; they're stuck inside. She's screaming for them, getting her wand out, casting any spell that she can but it's too late. It's too late and they're dead and everything has gone wrong.

"No, no, no," she mumbles, leaning forward and heaving up what remains in her stomach. "You promised you'd never leave me. You can't just leave me..."

But there's no reply. Of course.

* * *

 _She's fiery._

But she's not really, not anymore. The fire has burnt out and she has no passion left. Her lover is dead and her baby is no longer here. They turned to ash in the fire along with her heart.

She moves to England, changes her name, but it doesn't take the pain away. How can it, when the world has crumbled around her?

Everything hurts but she has to carry on for them. Nothing else matters but them. They will want her to try. They are her life. Even if they're dead.

* * *

 _She is fiery._

She throws herself into teaching. She teaches about the Muggle things she learned about with her marriage. She tries so hard with the children.

Only, they don't listen. The Muggle-born contradict what she says and the Pureblood don't listen. They mock her heavy accent and her European looks. It's hard to throw her heart into teaching, but she tries. She can't cope but she pushes on. She has to help. She has to teach. She has nothing else.

* * *

 _She is fiery._

But her fire will be doused soon. She can taste in in the air. Her death is soon and she can't stop it.

That's why she's not surprised when the men in black robes take her to a dark room. She can't help but beg for her life, can't help but plead with her colleague to help her, but she knows that it's no use. He's one of these British Death Eaters. She's going to die. And she's not okay with it.

The snake-like man whispers a spell and the green envelopes her, embracing her and wrapping around her. It's the end.

* * *

 _She is numb._

"I missed you," she hears, and then life finally stops.

* * *

 **I'm going to write a longer version of Charity's story. i love this concept so much.**

 **~buttercat**


	2. deep in the dark (you'll surrender your

**Insane House Challenge: (song) Can't Fight the Moonlight by LeAnn Rimes (low-key love this song)**

 **Pop Chart Day: (song)** _ **see above**_

 **Sticker Challenge: Ice Mice: write a fic set in winter**

 **365 Challenge: (word) Powerful**

 **Golden Snitch Forum: Beauxbatons: Teacher Appreciation: Minerva McG**

 **I'm just like ignoring canon by the fact that the whole McGregor incident happened and that Elphinstone is much older. And that he died in 1985. Creative stuff. Died 1970.**

 **Word Count: 559**

* * *

 **deep in the dark (you'll surrender your heart)**

* * *

She holds the bouquet in her trembling hands, trying to calm herself down. A stray tear slips out of her eye, and she lets it run down her cheek. She is strong, but she's allowed to be weak now. She grips the bouquet tightly, thinking that this is not how she planned to walk with a bouquet next to him. This should be their wedding, but he's dead and she's alone. Sure, he is there with her in spirit but it doesn't feel like enough. They are meant to have a family: they are meant to be together. But he isn't here anymore: killed by a terrorist group run by a Voldemort. He is—was—only young. Thirty-seven. He still had his whole life ahead of him. He is meant to be the powerful father, but instead he's trapped in the never-ending darkness of death.

Another tear falls, but she wipes this one away. She's strong. She can make it through this funeral. Continue teaching. Fight crime. She can do this.

They make it to the place where he is going to be laid, the grass surrounding the area covered in a frost that he would have loved. The coffin is floated above it, waiting to go down to the bottom of the hole and rest for the rest of eternity. The minister begins talking about how great Elphinstone used to be, about his wife, Minerva, and the happy life they are supposed to be having has been cut short due to an unfortunate circumstance. She just looks at the floor, blinking back tears. "Has anyone got any last words?" the minister asks, looking around at Elphinstone's siblings and at her.

His brother talks about their childhood, and his sister discusses his career. Then it's her turn. "We would have had beautiful children," she says, because that is something they had discussed many times before. "And you would have been the best father." She takes a deep breath in before promising, "I will avenge your death." She wipes her eyes, furiously getting rid of the evidence of her grief.

"Thank you, Minerva," the minister says, sending a sympathetic look in her direction that makes her blood boil. "It is now time to lower the grave."

This is the end. Soon, he will be covered in dirt and she won't: soon he'll truly be apart from her. She will not be able to see him until she joins him in the afterlife. She dabs her eyes again as his coffin reaches the ground. "Time for the final goodbyes."

"I love you," she whispers to the ground, dropping the bouquet down on top of his home. "There's no escape from love. I will always love you."

She looks away as he is covered, allowing the tears to flow freely. She is strong. Strong people embrace their weaknesses. Her weakness has always been him.

"I'll make you proud," she promises to the air, her heart pounding for him. "I will teach my students like they are our own. I will look after them. Just for you."

She does her best. Minerva is known for being the strictest but nicest teacher. She sticks to both of her promises to him.

And one day, she will be in his arms again, comforted by his smell and his presence. She will be with him again.

One day.

* * *

 **Eh**

 **~buttercat**


End file.
